Spring is often linked to a sense of renewal. As the daylight hours stretch longer, temperatures become warmer, and blossoms emerge, many of us find a new spring in our step. Yet for others it's a time of, well… misery.

If you suffer from seasonal allergies, you know that spending time outdoors can be followed by sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes and even asthma attacks all triggered by the immune system simply reacting to pollen in the air.

So what’s happening? And why do some people suffer more than others with “hayfever?”

It’s all to do with what we call the “allergic load”.

Everyone has an inbuilt tolerance level in the immune system for external irritants. Let’s imagine everyone gets 100 points.

If you’re someone who gets hayfever from the pollen around you and you go bushwalking your “allergic load” is suddenly up 50 points.  On top of that, if you have a moderate intolerance to dairy but choose to eat a lot of cheese at your next spring picnic, your allergic load may increase another 30 points.

Then you decide to visit your friend for a cuppa who has a cat and before you know it, another 30 points has tipped your body over the limit. Now your body is in fight mode desperately trying to keep your allergies at bay.

On the inside there is a lot going on. Cortisol and histamine are running rampant as your body tries to tame the inflammation. Your immune cells are saying “I don’t like you, pollen, dairy and cat hair, so I will release chemicals to fight these unwanted guests.”

Fortunately, there are a variety of herbs that work wonderfully well to support your immune system - and lessen the symptoms of seasonal allergies.

In clinic, I will start by looking at a person’s underlying food intolerances (even subtle ones) that are contributing to your body’s heightened inflammation status, (e.g. dairy, gluten, eggs, corn and soy) as these are easy to identify and fix through an elimination diet.